The GBA is the perfect hardware for those seemingly endless half-day flights overseas. With both an expansive library of games from which to choose and unparalleled battery life, Nintendo's 32-bit workhorse is the perfect thing to take your mind off the fact that you're about 30,000 feet in the air over the deepest part of the ocean while the nearest land is about 1,000 miles away. Even the super-bright GBA SP+ is good for a dozen hours of gaming or more, perfect for those meaty tactical RPGs the GBA has in such abundance. That's more than enough to keep you entertained while you journey to Japan and lose an entire freaking day in the process courtesy of the International Date Line.

War is hell, except when the warriors are cute little guys in adorable little engines of destruction. In that case, war is advanced -- Advance Wars, that is. The friendly little death machines are a bit deceptive, though, because these wars require serious strategy and planning. You'll need every minute of your air time to work out effective battle plans in the campaign mode. Bring along the superb sequel for the flight home, assuming you're that confident in your tactical capabilities.

With all its battles, sidequests, level-raising and job training, a full game of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance clocks in at, oh, about 120 hours. That's half a dozen round-trips from Texas to Tokyo. Of course, if you can afford to fly internationally that often you can probably afford to hire someone to power-level your characters and save you some serious trouble.

Dust off that forgotten Neo Geo Pocket Color -- Card Fighter's Clash is still one of the best and brightest card games ever created. Well, maybe not "brightest" -- you'll want to use your reading light when you play SNK's elderly (and un-backlit) portable. It's a small price to pay for an addictive card game that can keep you engrossed for hours. (Weak-eyed types: you should hold out for the upcoming DS sequel.)